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"III 

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63d Congress 

1st Sffisioii 



SENATE 



f DOCUME 

I No. 23 



Document 
13 1 



WILLIAM Mckinley 



AN ADDRESS 

ON THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND PUBLIC SERV- 
ICES OF WILLIAM MCKINLEY DELIVERED BEFORE 
THE MCKINLEY ASSOCIATION OF CONNECTICUT 
AT NEW HAVEN JANUARY 29, 1904 



By 



HON. FRANK B. BRANDEGEE 

MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM CONNECTICUT 






PRESENTED BY MR. BURTON 
NOVEMBER 3, 1913.— Ordered to be printed 



WASHINGTON 
1913 



L' 



Es-z. 




D. OF D, 



LIFE, CHARACTER, AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF WILLIAM 
M'KINLEY. 



By Frank B. Braxdegee. 



Gentlemen of the McKinley Association of Connecticut: Be- 
fore entering upon the particular subject of ni}^ address I desire to 
express my deep gratification at the high honor conferred upon me 
by 3^our inYitation to this banquet and my appreciation of the verj'^ 
flattering compliment implied in your selection of me as one of the 
speakers of this CYening: nor can I refrain from congratulating this 
association upon its organization, its distinguished membership, and 
this magnificent assemblage in celebration of its natiYity. It is 
particularly fitting that this gathering should be held in the city of 
NeAY HaYen, at once the seat of a famous uniYersity of learning and 
a representatiYe of the culture and refinement of all that is best and 
highest in American life. American ideals, and American citizenship. 
The Republican Party has ahvays stood for education, for freedom, 
for morality, and for national prosperity. By your formation of this 
club you haYe shown that Republicanism in Connecticut is a harmo- 
nious, united, aggressiYe, and enthusiastic force, and that you are 
proud of your past history and confident of a glorious future. In 
your choice of a name you haYe paid homage to the memory of one 
of our most beloYed leaders and one of the greatest statesmen of the 
age, and in the number and character of your members you give 
eYidence that Republican principles and policies are still cherished 
by the intelligence and good citizenship of our historic Common- 
AYealth. You haYe entered upon a field of vast usefulness and in- 
fluence, and will proYe an inspiration and a tower of strength to the 
cause of good goYernment in both State and Xation. 

A nation mourns. 

On Thursdav. the 19th day of September. 1901. this country pre- 
sented a remarkable spectacle. On that day, for a period of five 
minutes after half past 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the Avhole Xation stood 
still with bated breath. From the St. Lawrence to the Mexican Gulf 
and from the Atlantic to the Golden Gate human activity ceased. 
The rush of business was stilled. The hum of industry was hushed. 
Commerce was suspended. Xo wheel turned. Every sound was 
quieted. A solemn silence prevailed throughout the land. Great 
funeral parades halted and stood at attention. Railroad trains on the 
mountain sides, steamships on the rivers, and street cars in the cities- 
all came to a stop, wherever they were. The electric telegraph for- 

3 



4 WILLIAM Mckinley. 

bore its nervous clicking, silenced by the sorrow that does not speak. 
Eighty millions of people stood with bared heads and reverent hearts 
while the bells of all the churches in the land tolled in mournful ex- 
pression of a nation's grief. The mortal remains of William Mc- 
Kinley were being tenderly committed to their last resting place. 
The trinity of martyr Presidents was complete. For the third time 
in our history the head of this free Eepublic had been laid low by the 
hand of an assassin. The beloved Chief Magistrate, the gallant 
soldier, the ])rofound statesman, the great debater, the famous orator, 
the idol of the people, after 58 years of life devoted to his country's 
service, had been murdered, for no intelligible reason, by a vile mis- 
creant so obscure that it was with difficulty that he could be identified. 
Sorrow and mourning and horror for the dastardlj^ deed were not 
confined to this land. The civilized world sympathized in our 
bereavement and joined in our deep affliction. Canada, Mexico, and 
the nations of the Old World paid loving tribute to the departed 
President. In London solemn obsequies were held in the stately 
cathedral of St. Paul's, and the princes of church and state thronged 
the Abbey of Westminster — England's imperial mausoleum of the 
illustrious dead of a thousand years — to honor his great name. We 
are assembled here to recall his memory, to recount his achievements, 
and to take to our hearts the lessons to be learned from his dis- 
tinguished services and his lofty character. What were those services 
and whence were derived those intellectual and moral qualities which 
raised him from the obscure station of a poor country boy to the 
Chief Magistracy of the grandest and freest Nation in all the tide of 
time ? 

DESCENT AND BOYHOOD. 

William McKinley was of Scotch-Irish descent— that mingled blood 
which has furnished such a long list of illustrious names to the annals 
of the Anglo-Saxon race. He inherited the prudence and tenacity of 
purpose which belong to the Scotch, together with that versatility and 
gift of eloquence wliich are characteristic of the Irish race. His 
father, also named William, was born November 15, 1807, on the 
Dougherty farm, in Mercer County, Pa. At the age of 22 the father 
married Nancy Campbell Allison. Of this union nine children were 
born — four boys and five girls. The senior McKinley was a manager 
of iron furnaces, and while engaged in that occupation at Niles, Ohio, 
whither he had moved, William McKinley, jr., was born there on 
January 29, 1843, just 60 years ago to-day. From Niles they moved 
to Poland, Ohio, to take advantage of the educational facilities 
afforded by the Poland Academy. At this time the future President 
was only a child; and his boyhood was spent in the little agricul- 
tural and mining village of Poland. This place is the most south- 
eastern township of the original Western Eeserve, and one of the 
original land company from Connecticut settled there. From the 
age of 14 to 18 young McKinley attended the academy, read law in 
the evening until midnight, assisted the village postmaster in his 
work, taught school, and devoted himself to the varied tasks by which 
a country "boy might contribute toward his support. At the age of 16 
he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Poland, 
and was a constant attendant and a close and earnest student in his 



: , WILLIAM McKINLEY. 5 

Bible class. Even at this early age he gave evidence of his talent for 
debate and soon became the leader of the village debating society. 
His parents were hard-working and God-fearing people — serious, 
industrious, moral, and of the strictest integrity. His father died in 
1892, at the advanced age of 85 years, and his mother lived to the 
ripe age of nearly 90 years, and died in 1897, with her son. then 
President, at her bedside. In this Christian home of frugal habits 
the foundations of his character were laid broad and deep, and they 
never failed him in after life. In 1860 the irrepressible conflict drew 
near. Abraham Lincoln, with the inspiration of a prophet of old, 
had riveted the attention of the world by the words Avhich seared 
themselves into the minds of men, " This country can not perma- 
nently endure half slave and half free." The country at once per- 
ceived the truth and the awful portent of the statement. The fact 
had long lain half hidden in the consciousness of men; but, hoping 
and praying for a solution of the problem, the}^ had refused to con- 
template the terrible alternative. Now they were face to face with the 
momentous issue. The policy of compromise, which had been the sole 
aim and result of the highest statesmanship for a generation, was 
abandoned. Lincoln became President. The secession of States 
began and continued. The military arm of the Nation had been 
despoiled and paralyzed. Treason lurked in every department of the 
Government and in every branch of the public service. The Union 
appeared to be tottering to its destruction. Chaos and anarchy 
seemed at hand. Sumter was fired upon and taken, and the Nation's 
flag Avas hauled down and trampled in the dust. Lincoln called for 
volunteers, and his appeal was met with a patriotic uprising through- 
out the entire North. One instance will illustrate the prevailing 
spirit. In a small village of the West there was an old tavern, called 
the Sparrow Inn, which had been built soon after the Revolutionary 
War. It was one of the stations for fugitive slaves on the " under- 
ground route " to Canada. On a day in June, 1801, the inhabitants 
had assembled there. A speaker, pointing to the Stars and Stripes 
which hung on the wall, said with impassioned utterance: '" ()ur 
country's flag has been shot at. It has been trailed in the dust by 
those who should defend it: dishonored by those who should have 
cherished and loved it. And for Avhat? That this free Government 
may keep a race in the bondage of slavery. Who will be the first to 
defend it?" A silence like death ensued. For an interval no move- 
ment was made. Then a lad pushed forward into the space in front 
of the speaker. He was a slender, gray-eyed youth, Avith a serious, 
thoughtful face, inclicating both sweetness and strenglh. a frank and 
open oaze, a noble brow, and a strong curved nose. It was William 
McKinley. 

ENLISTS IN TIIF. ARIMY. 

He A'olunteered and at once enlisted in Company E of the TAventy- 
third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on June 11, 1801, at the age of 18 
years. This regiment Avas composed largely of youn^ men of New 
Eno-land descent. ]\[cKinley Avas only a boy and enlisted as a pri- 
vate. His career in the Arniv Avas highly creditable. He discharged 
everv dutv faithful Iv and A^as repeatedly commended for bravery 



6 WILLIAM Mckinley. 

and efficiency. He was brevetted-for gallant conduct on the bloody 
field of Antietam, and, as a staff officer, was constantly employed as 
a bearer of dispatches in the thick of the hottest fights, " It was Voimg 
McKinley who guided Sheridan through the rout of the Union Army 
to the quarters of Gen. Crook on the day of Sheridan's famous ride 
from Winchester, which resulted in transforming a threatened dis- 
aster into a decisive victory. Within a year of the time of his enlist- 
ment he was promoted to the rank of commissary sergeant; within 
six months from that date he was promoted to be' second lieutenant; 
five months afterwards he became a first lieutenant ; after another five 
months he was made a captain. , Eight months passed, and he was 
detailed as acting assistant adjutant general of the First Division, 
First Army Corps, on the staff of Gen. Carroll, and brevetted major. 
He was mustered out of service July 26, 1865, having served with 
conspicuous bravery through the entire war. He had been a member 
of the staffs of Gens. Hayes. Crook, Hancock, and Sheridan. Mc- 
Kinley's regiment, the Twenty-third Ohio, contained many men 
afterwards highly distinguished. At the time of its formation its 
colonel was William S. Rosecrans, subsequently a famous general. 
Its lieutenant colonel was Stanley Matthews, afterwards United 
States Senator from Ohio and a justice of the United States Supreme 
Court. Its first major was Rutherford B. Hayes, who subsequently 
became an able general, thrice governor of his State, and President 
of the United States. McKinley hated war. It was foreign to his 
whole nature. To use his own words, '' Peace is the national desire 
and the goal of every American aspiration. The best sentiment of 
the civilized world is moving toward the settlement of differences 
between nations without resorting to the horrors of war. Let us 
ever remember that our interest is in concord, not conflict; and that 
our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war. 
We love peace better than Avar, and our swords never should be 
drawn except in a righteous cause, and then never until every effort 
at peace and arbitration shall be exhausted." 

Nevertheless, had he remained in the Army, he was endowed Avith 
those attributes which would undoubtedly have made him a gi-eat 
commander. He had entered the service not because of a taste for a 
military career, but solely because he kncAV his country needed him 
at that time and needed him there most of all. Fidelity to duty was 
the mainspring of his existence. Duty called and he obeyed. The 
rough life, the temptations and passions which are so apt to vitiate 
the character of the soldier in time of Avar found him proof against 
their insidious influences. His nature and character Avere impreg- 
nable against the assaults of evil, and, like a Crusader of old, he 
emerged from the fours years' conflict Avith morals and purposes 
elevated and fortified by the experiences of the most gigantic rebel- 
lion in history. 

RETURNS TO CIVIL LIFE. 

He Avas noAv only 22 years of age — a youth in years, but a full man, 
measured by the experience and responsibilities of life. He at once 
returned to his home in Poland and reentered ciAnl life. He studied 
laAv Avith Judge Glidden, and also at the Albany LaAv School, and in 
1867 he Avas admitted to the bar. and immediately began the practice 



WILLIAM McKINLEY. 7 

of his profession in Canton, whither he had moved. Within two years 
he was elected iDrosecuting attorney of Stark County, a stronghold 
of Democracy, and, during a brilliant and aggressive campaigTi, first 
gave public evidence upon the stump of that wonderful ability which 
placed him in the very foremost rank of the world's greatest debaters. 
In 1871 he married Miss Ida Saxton, the daughter of a banker and 
leading citizen of Canton, and for the next five years devoted himself 
to his profession, and won enviable distinction as a lawyer, especially 
as an advocate in the trial of causes to the jury. 

ENTERS PUBLIC LIFE. 

In 16,76 he was elected a Eepresentative in Congress, and from this 
date his career, as known to the people at large, may be said to have 
begun. [He was then only 33 years of age. Most of the famous con- 
gressional careers have been made by men who entered the House in 
the strength of young manhood. Garfield, Blaine, Conkling, Eeed, 
Clay, Webster, and Lincoln — all began their congressional life as 
young m([^n. The eighteenth Ohio district, which McKinley repre- 
sented, was a manufacturing and mining district, and while McKin- 
ley inherited the tarift' ideas of a Henry Clay Whig, his protective 
views were doubtless strengthened by his careful analysis of the needs 
of his constituencv. He had hardly been two years in Congress when, 
the Wood tariff bill being under discussion, in 1878, McKinley deliv- 
ered a- speech in opposition which forthwith made for him a national 
reputation and, upon the election of Garfield to the Presidency two 
years later, secured for him Garfield's place on the Ways and Means 
Committee. Judge Kelley. of Pennsylvania, who, from his loyalty to 
the great metal industry of his State, earned the soubriquet of " Pig 
Iron Kelley," was at that time the leading exponent of the principle 
of protection to American industries. He saw at once that a new 
champion had been raised u]) for the ''American system," and when 
he laid aside the mantle of leadership he placed it on McKinley's 
shoulders. 

HIS LIFE WORK. 

And now McKinlev was in the midst of the most distinctive work 
of his life, and henceforth there is hardly a page of American history 
which does not bear the imprint of his genius. For the next 20 
years the tariff was an issue in every State, congressional, and 
national campaign. McKinley was always in the thick of the fight. 
Indeed, he cameto be the center about which the conflict raged. So 
completely had he impressed his views upon his party and, through 
it, upon 'the country, that the protective policy was everywhere 
.'.popularly known as "*' McKinleyism." At home and abroad he was 
acknowledged to be the preeminent exponent, not only of a protec- 
tive tariff, but of a tarifl' for protection. So strong is political am- 
bition in Ohio and so numerous are the aspirants for the honors of 
public life, that it was the custom in that State to allow to a Repre- 
sentative in Congress only two terms; but McKinley so dominated 
his district and became a figure of such national importance that for 
15 years no other name in his party was mentioned to .succeed him. 
Time and again his district was gerrymandered against him, and as 



\ 



8 WILLIAM McKINLEY. 

often did he put his opponents to rout and wrest victory from the 
very jaws of defeat against great odds. While I had no close ac- 
quaintance with Mr. McKinley, I had met liim and heard him on 
several occasions. I was a member of two national conventions to 
which he was also a delegate and in the proceedings of which he took 
conspicuous part. He presided over one of them, that at Minne- 
apolis, in 1802. I had also met and had friendly conversation with 
him in the White House, and had attended the convention in Phila- 
delphia which nominated him for the Presidency in 1900. 

HIS PERSONAL TRAITS. 

His api^earance was most impressive. A natural dignity of man- 
ner clothed him as with a garment. He was of medium height, 
broad shouldered, deep chested, and of a strong, compact build. He 
possessed great physical strength and had enormous power of en- 
durance. His capacity for work w as marvelous. He had a splendid 
head and countenance. One of his personal friends said of him, 
" His face was cast in a classic mold; you see faces like it in antique 
marble in the galleries of the Vatican and in the portraits of the 
great cardinal statesmen of Italy." His forehead was broad and 
massive; his eyebrows were very thick and bushy; his eyes were 
gray and piercing and set far back under his overhanging brow; 
his nose was like the beak of an eagle; his mouth was broad and 
firm; and his chin was square and cleft in the middle. He was 
always perfectl}^ smooth shaven and scrupulously neat. His ear 
was of the large and generous type, and his hair was straight and 
rather long in the back of the neck. He uniformly wore a black 
frock coat, a black string tie, and a tall hat. He had an air of 
" breeding " and the noble gravity of a senator of the Roman Re- 
public. He was perfectly cool and self-possessed. He never lost 
control of himself or of the situation. He was well poised and of 
unerring judgment. In forming his conclusions he was careful, 
deliberate, and painstaking, and when, upon reflection, he had ar- 
rived at a decision, he was firm and inflexible. His long experience 
in debate had taught him to weigh his w^ords. and a certain caution 
and discretion in speech had become habitual wdth him, so that he 
rarely had to explain or modify a statement. He was temj^erate in 
all things. He was tactful, even tempered, kindly, considerate, and 
of infinite patience. In tlie hottest debates and the fiercest contests 
he gave no offense and bore no malice. He treated an opponent 
with a deference and courtesy that approached the chivalrous, and 
in the battles of the forum his shield always bore the motto, "Noblesse 
oblige." His convictions were of that intense earnestness which 
characterizes religious faith, and he always had the courage of them. 

His belief in the American people was unbounded. He was in- 
tensely American. "^Vith hhn patriotism amounted to a passion. He 
loved the great army oT"toTrers, tlie boiie and sinew, the hope and 
the support of the Republic, whom Lincoln was wont to call the plain 
people. He expressed this sentiment in the words. " I am for Amer- 
ica because America is for the common ijeople." He loved and 
trusted the masses as no other statesman — -Lincoln alone excepted — 
has ever done. And the intelligent democracy of the country in- 



WILLIAM Mckinley. 9 

stinctively returned the confidence he reposed in them. His sincerity 
was never doubted and his good faith and singleness of purpose were 
apparent to ihe least discerning. He had the austere virtue of the 
ancient Covenanter, but Avas free from all hypocrisy, cant, and self- 
righteousness. He fawned upon no man and he looked down upon 
none. He had that pride, the product of a wholesome self-respect, 
which does not permit undue familiarity, but he was the most acces- 
sible and approachable of men. His industry was absolutely unflag- 
ging. Whatever thing he undertook he conducted with the most 
indefatigable persistence. His attention to details was amazing. He 
pursued his object with undeviating pertinacity and with the most 
intense earnestness. He read, he studied, he marshaled facts and 
authorities; he collected and collated statistics; he tabulated reports; 
he managed an enormous correspondence ; he examined the diversified 
industries of the land in their most minute ramifications: he scrutin- 
ized the press and kept abreast of current trade literature; iie investi- 
gated the causes of business phenomena ; he questioned employer and 
workman, producer and consumer, native and foreigner. All day 
long he was to be found in his committee room, hearing and weighing 
the conflicting claims of all sorts of interests from all parts of the 
country. Every night until past midnight he was at his rooms in 
the Ebbitt House, buried in his books and papers and in consultation 
with his colleagues, who flocked to see him. At times he was in the 
minority, struggling to preserve such parts of the protective system 
as might be saved from the free-trade onslaughts of the victorious 
majority. Again, he was inspiring his own party, doubting and 
wavering after some defeat, with his own sublime courage and con- 
fidence. 

AHEAD or HIS PARTY. 

He had always been in advance of his party upon the great issue 
with which his name has been more particularly associated. At times 
some of the Republican leaders thought he was too far in advance. 
In one of the fiercest battles of the rebellion a Union regiment had 
advanced until it seemed impossible that a single life could survive 
the storm of shot and shell which rained upon it. The colonel was 
about to order his men to fall back when his attention was suddenly 
drawn to the color sergeant, a young boy. who, proudly bearing aloft 
the tattered Stars and Stripes, was still advancing through the leaden 
hail. The colonel, in stentorian tones, called out, " Sergeant, bring 
those colors back to the line ! " The young hero, with heightened 
color and flashing eyes, pointing to the Old Flag, for Avhich he was 
willing to give his life, responded. " Colonel, bring the line up to the 
colors !" William McKinley planted the flag of the Republican Party 
upon the American policy of protection to American industries, 
American wages, and American workmen, and then brought the 
party up to the colors. It is due to him. more than to any other, 
that" this patriotic policy is now firmly established as the fixed law 
of the land. 

LEADER OF THE HOl^SE. 

He. had served on the great Connnittee on^ Wavs^jji4.31eans^^^ 
lO'etmseaitrvr^^rs.'wri'en.ir^^^ of William D. KeTley, in 

1890, he became its chairman and the leader of his party in name 



10 WILLIAM McKINLEY, 

as Avell as in fact upon the floor of the House. He introduced and 
secured the passage of the bill which bore his name — the famous 
McKinley tariff law. In certain sections the passage of this law was 
the signal of an outburst of hysterical fury. It was violently at- 
tacked and misrepresented. Although the country was in the height 
of prosperity, a reaction against the Republican Party set in, and 
this fact, together with the unfair rearrangement of his district by 
his political opponents, now driven to desperation, defeated McKin- 
ley for reelection: but in the new district, composed of counties which 
had previously given Democratic majorities of 3,000, he was defeated 
by only 300 votes. His opponents now flattered themselves that they 
were rid of their most dangerous foe. Trickery, however, rarely 
profits its authors, and this is preeminently true of political chi- 
canery. Like the boomerang, it returns to destroy its promoter. 

GOVERNOR OF OHIO. 

In 181)1 the Republicans of Ohio were spared the task of selecting 
a candidate for governor. Their opponents had done that for them. 
The whole State called for McKinley. After a brilliant campaign 
Avhich was watched by the whole Nation, he was elected governor by 
a plurality of over 21.000. Two years later, as the result of a still 
more dramatic campaign, he was reelected by what at that time was 
the unheard-of plurality of over 80.000. 

DEMOCRATIC HARD T1:MES. 

Grover Cleveland was now President and the country was in the 
depths of despondency. The triumphant Democracy, in spite of the 
most solemn warnings and protests, devoid of statesmanship, but 
drunk with the pride of power and place and impelled by a blind 
and reckless spirit of partisan revenge, had repealed the McKinley 
law and enacted in its stead a statute so imbecile, so inequitable, and 
so wantonly destructive as to deserve the anathema hurled at it in 
advance by a disgusted Democratic President, who characterized it as 
a measure of " i)erfidy and dishonor." 

To eui]:)hasize his contempt for this measure, Mr. Cleveland de- 
clined either to sign it or to veto it, and it became a law without his 
signature. The wreck and devastation produced by this disastrous 
legislation, of dubious origin and paternity, is still fresh in the public 
mind. Capital everywhere fled to cover. Industry was paralyzed. 
Commerce languished. Factories closed their doors. Great mills 
shut down and armies of idle artisans begged in the streets. Public 
soup houses dis])ensed a scanty fare to famishing mechanics. Skilled 
workmen besought employment at any wage, however small. There 
were no strikes then — there was nothing to strike against. The panic 
of ninety-three came and left financial ruin in its path. The great 
commercial houses, the banks and exchanges of the country, valiantly 
exerted themselves to stay the iirogress of calamity, but in vain. The 
business heart of the Xation still throbbed, but with a feeble and 
intermittent pulse. The whole country lay prostrate. Universal 
stagnation prevailed. From out the doubt and perplexity and an- 
guish of mind the voice of the Xation anxiously inquired, " Why is it 



WILLIAM Mckinley. 11 

that amid all the mij>hty resources of the land we are sutfering^" 
Back came the reply from McKinley, '* I can answer in a Avord. The 
Democrats are rnnnino; th€ Government, and nothing else is running. 
Every industry is practically stopped; no man can calculate the loss 
to the people of this country in investment, property, and wages. 
We have been at school. It has been a universal, a sort of compulsory, 
education from the benefits of which none have l)een excluded. 
While the tuition has been free, the ultimate cost has been very great. 
We have been blessed with experience, if we have not been blessed 
with anything else. AYhen confidence is shaken, misfortunes come 
not singly but in battalions, and suflE'ering falls on every community. 
No part of our population is exempt." The country heard the an- 
sw^er and knew that it was sufficient and true. It had elected to try 
the " tariff-reform " i)olicy of the Democracy and had been plunged 
by it from the pinnacle of prosperity to the abyss of bankruptcy. It 
had now learned wisdom in the school of a bitter experience. 

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 

The presidential election of ISOC drew nigh. The demand for 
McKinlej' as the candidate of the Republican Party became wide- 
spread and insistent. He of all others personified the American 
policy of protection. So confident was the country that his nomina- 
tion would restore good times that he was called " the advance agent 
of prosperity." But other names were pressed for the nomination — 
men who had achieved fame as orators, leaders, and statesmen. That 
matchless parliamentarian of the House, Thomas B. Reed, of Maine ; 
that wise and peerless Nestor of the Senate, William B. Allison ; that 
sterling governor of the Empire State, Levi P. Morton; that astute 
and powerful political general of the Keystone State, Matthew Stan- 
ley Quay, and many other favorite sons, all had their enthusiastio 
supporters and admirers. 

A POLITICAL NAPOLEON. 

At this juncture there arose a man previously unknown to the 
country at large, but one whose name had meant success in every 
field in which his energies had been employed. He saw that the 
people wanted McKinley, but that his nomination was in danger from 
the manipulations of rival political interests. He resolved that the 
people should not be thwarted in their desire. Up to that time he 
had had no political experience, but he had a mighty brain, a large 
and poAverful acquaintance among men. an indomitable will, a mar- 
velous genius for organization, a resistless energy, a contagious en- 
thusiasm, an abiding and unshakable faith in Republican principles, 
and a boundless confidence in and a measureless love and respect for 
William McKinley. This man was Marcus A. Hanna. He put him- 
self at the head of the McKinley movement, and in a canvass which 
for brilliancy, dash, and skill stands unique in political annals, ef- 
fected McKinley 's nomination by more than a two-thirds vote of 
the convention on the first ballot. In an address to the Union Club 
at Cleveland Senator Hanna has described this event. Said he: 
"About two years ago— not quite that long— I began my work of de- 



12 WILLIAM McKINLEY. 

yotion and love to our chief. Two years ago I took from him my 
inspiration. When he laid upon me that confidence and said to me, 
' My friend, I trust you with my future.' He also said, ' Mark, there 
are sonie things I_will not^do to be President of the United States, 
an9^i leave "my "honor Tn yourliands."" I embarked upon tliaTcluty 
with a full heart for a man whom I loved, because I had learned to 
respect and honor him. It was a mission of love, inspired by that 
noble character which has no peer in the world. When I took that 
charge of McKinley's honor I swore to my Maker that I would return 
it unsullied. And when I returned from that memorable couAention, 
proud and satisfied with the work his friends had done, I went to 
Canton and laid my report at the feet of my chieftain, and I said to 
him, ' McKinley, I have not forgotten the trust, and I bring it back 
without a blot and not a single promise to redeem.' I think T have 
a right to feel proud of that, because in the succession of the admin- 
istration from Lincoln's time to the present era no man ever enjoyed 
that privilege before." Well might that grand Republican warrior, 
Mark Hanna, pride himself upon his work, for he had rendered to his 
party and to his country a service the effects of which will be felt 
for generations. And well may we, as Republicans and patriotic 
Americans, feel proud of Mark PTanna, under whose masterly gen- 
eralship the party has won such glorious victories. 

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1896. 

The politics of yesterday is the history of to-day. Democracy 
pitted Mr. Bryan against McKinley. The Democratic platform at- 
tacked the courts, the currency, the tariff, and the honor of the coun- 
try. The free and unlimited coinage of silver at a ratio which did 
not exist was the Democratic panacea for all our ills. We were 
assured that the price of silver was indissolubly linked with the 
price of wheat and cotton, and that the prices of commodities would 
never rise until the price of silver was restored nor until the value 
of a dollar was debased 50 per cent. How wild and strange such 
doctrine sounds now ! McKinley met the issue squarely. " When 
we part with our labor, our products, or our property we should re- 
ceive in return money which is as stable and unchanaing in value as 
the ingenuity of honest men can make it. We are learning another 
thing, my fellow citizens, that no matter what kind of money we 
have, we can not get it unless Ave have work. Workingmen want 
steady work at good wages. They are not satisfied Avith irregular 
work at inadequate wages. They Avant the American standard ap- 
plied to both. With steady work they Avant to be paid in sound 
money. If there is any one thing Avhich should be free from specu- 
lation and fluctuation it is the money of a country. Good money 
ncA^er makes bad times. We haA-e the best country and the best men 
and we propose to continue to have the best money." The country 
agreed with McKinley, and in NoA^ember, 18D6-, he Avas elected Presi- 
dent. He had said that " doubt in the business world is death to 
business." Doubt now gave way to certainty. Confidence was re- 
stored. The dawn of a golden prosperity began to appear as soon 
as the result of the election became known. Men felt that a sound 
currency was assured and that a protective tariff Avould soon be 
enacted. 



WILLIAM Mckinley. 13 

m'kinley's administration. 

The President was inaugurated March 4, 1897. He at once called 
Congress together in special session to wipe the Wilson bill from 
the statute book and to enact an American protective tariff. On 
July 24 that work had been completed by the approval of the Ding- 
ley tariif bill, the excellent measure which is the law at present. At 
once a new spirit infused the productive agencies of the country. 
Confidence reappeared. Hoarded capital returned to the channels of 
trade. Industry roused itself from its long lethargy. The legisla- 
tion which had held the business activity of the country in bonds no 
longer existed. Prosperity spread itself throughout the land. The 
somber brow of labor cleared. The troubled face of the merchant 
brightened with the hope and cheer of new opportunit3\ As if at 
the touch of some magical wand, industry and plenty succeeded pros- 
tration and want. The commerce of the country increased by leaps 
and bounds. " Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war." 
Our captains of industry invaded the markets of the Old World and 
exchanged our products with mutual profit. For more than a cen- 
tury of time, during the entire interval between the formation of 
our Government and the retirement of Cleveland from the Presi- 
dency, the total excess of our exports over imports had been only 
$357,000,000. In the last year alone of McKinley's administration 
that excess was $665,000,000, nearly double what it had been in the 
entire preceding 107 years ; and in the four years of McKinley's term 
of office the grand total of our excess of exports over imports reached 
the stupendous and inconceivable sum of $2,354,000,000 — an increase 
in four years of $2,000,000,000 over the entire excess of the previous 
107 years! Such figures well-nigh stagger the perceptive faculties; 
and yet it is only by figures that we can measure the vast march made 
by our commerce in the last few years. 

AVAR CLOUDS. 

McKinley was a man of peace ; he hated the horrors and barbarisms 
of war; yet he had hardly taken the oath of office before the sky was 
darkened with the grim portents of war. Spain, in the fifteenth cen- 
tury the mightiest power of the world, had formerly held half the 
Western Hemisphere subject to her empire. Her sway, always despotic 
and corrupt, had been shaken off until in 1896 the Antilles— the fair- 
est and the last gem that remained in her imperial diadem of all her 
western domain — rose in a death struggle with their oppressor. Cuba 
and Porto Eico lay in such close proximity to us as to be almost at 
our door. The fight for liberty made by the inhabitants of these 
islands was so heroic as to enlist the patriotic sympathies of our 
entire population. In her efforts to suppress the rebellion Spain con- 
ducted herself with medieval ferocity. Our Government had re- 
peatedly made respectful representations to Spain that our interests 
were imperiled by the situation, and that such a condition could not 
be permitted to exist indefinitely. The Spanish Government turned 
a deaf ear to our remonstrances. Many resolutions had been mtro- 
duced in Congress concerning the Cuban situation, and the Cuban 
status had been earnestly debated from every point of view. The 
feeling of the country was unmistakable. In mass meetings, in the 



14 WILLIAM Mckinley. 

press, in every channel of popular expression, the voice of the Nation 
was for intervention. McKinley, almost alone, stood like a rock for 
the exhaustion of every expedient known to diplomacy before allow- 
ing the dread appeal to arms. In his efforts to maintain peace he 
almost came to the breaking point with his most intimate friends and 
most trusted advisers. In this state of extreme tension one of our 
new battleships, the 3/aine, was blown up while peacefully lying in 
Habana Harbor. Still the President "forebore to open the purple 
testament of bleeding war.'' The gallant Sigsbee cabled, "Suspend 
judgment." An investigation was held, but when it had been pro- 
nounced, after a most searching examination, that the Maine had 
been blown up by a submarine mine, all men knew that we had come 
to the parting of the ways. 

WAR WITH SPAIN. 

On April 18, 1898, Avar was formally declared to exist between the 
United States and Spain. The war was prosecuted with the utmost 
vigor and brought to a victorious ending within a hundred da^'s. Once 
more American valor had been proved on land and sea and new glory 
crowned our arms. Manila Bay, Santiago, and San Juan were added 
to the fields of American heroism, and the names Dewey and Schley, 
Sampson»and Koosevelt, and a host of others were writ large upon 
the roll of fame. Cuba was free. The heel of despotism was lifted 
from the necks of 8,000,000 Asiatics in the Philippines and a just 
and benign sway extended over a thousand islands in the Tropics of 
the Orient. Many of our well-meaning people viewed the acquisi- 
tion of our insular ])ossessions Avith apprehension and foreboding. 

m'kINLEY on EXPANSION. 

But McKinley Avent straight ahead. In his vieAv, "The prophets 
of cAil Avere not the builders of the Kepublic. nor in its crises since 
have they saved or served it. We Avill solve the problems Avhich con- 
front us untrammeled by the past, and Avisely and courageously pur- 
sue a policy of right and justice in all things, making the future, 
under God. even more glorious than the past. As heretofore, so 
hereafter, Avill the Nation demonstrate its fitness to administer any 
new estate Avhich cA^ents devolve upon it, and in the fear of God Avill 
'take occasion by the hand and make the bounds of freedom wider 
yet.'" This prophecy has been fully justified. The ncAv and per- 
plexing questions resulting from the Spanish War have been con- 
scientiously meet and equitably settled. Our domain has stretched 
across the Pacific, and under the guidance of a statesmanship of 
transcendent ability no foreign complications have ensued. Our flag 
and our arms are respected in every quarter of the globe. Of a sud- 
den the United States has become a world power, not only in terri- 
tory and in military prestige but in commerce as well. That*com- 
merce is protected by a ncAv American Navy, Avhich compels the admi- 
ration of all nations. The rights of American citizenship are con- 
ceded in the uttermost ends of the earth. Any infringement of those 
rights, Avhether in China, in Turkey, or in darkest Siberia, is met with 
an instant demand for reparation, and the power exists to enforce 
fivery just demand. 



WILLIAM McKIXLEY, IS 

PANAMA CANAL. 

In that magnificent valedictory to the American people delivered at 
the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, he left to us as a legacy, 
which appeals to us with solemn force just now. this sentiment: "We 
must build the Isthmian Canal, which will unite the tAvo oceans and 
give a straight line of water comnnniication with the western coasts 
of Central America, Soutli America, and Mexico." And to that 
scholarly contingent which is tendering aid and comfort to the dis- 
loyal attempt to defeat the construction of the Panama Canal he 
would have said kindly, yet sadly, '' O. ye of little faith, be not 
afraid ! " 

third-ter:m talk. 

Hardly had McKiidey been inaugurated President the second time 
when a movement began to shape itself for his renomination. 

It was felt by many that to interrupt a prosperity so widely dis- 
tributed and so marvelous by a change of administration would be 
little less than a national calamity. What Washington would not 
have and Grant could not obtain, McKinley, had he lived, might 
have had thrust upon him. He declined absolutely to countenance . 
or even to consider this suggestion. But, except for the hand of the 
assassin, it is far from impossible that the precedent and prejudice 
of more than a century would have been broken. 

During his administration a spirit of contentment and good will 
prevailed to a degree without parallel since the early days of the 
Republic. By his broad and sympathetic charity and his kindly and 
tactful expressions he progressed farther in obliterating the estrange- 
ment which had lingered between the eections of our country as a 
result of the rebeffion, than any President since Lincoln. He inspired 
a spirit of peace and amity in all men. Hear him on the most dis- 
tracting issue of the time: "I believe in the common brotherhood of 
men. I believe that labor gets on best Avhen capital gets on best, and 
that capMal gets on best when labor is paid the most. Every attempt 
to arrawclass against class, ' the classes against the masses,' section 
against Section, labor against capital, 'the poor against the rich,' or 
interest against interest in the United States is in the highest degree 
reprehensible. The most un-American of all appeals is the one wdiich 
seeks to array labor against capital. eni]iloyer against employed." 



EMINENT QUALITIES. 

William McKinley was a broad, constructive statesman — wise, 
.capable, conservative, courageous, and safe. He had an elevated char- 
acter, lofty ideals, a cheerful optimism, and an u.nbounded faith in 
'the rectitude of the judgments of the American j^eople. His loyalty 
'to his friends was absolute, and his confidence, once bestowed, was 
implicit. It was a common remark that he bore a strong resemblance 
to Napoleon Bonaparte, and he inspired his folloAvers with the spirit 
which animated the Old Guard. AAHien he spoke from the platform 
his form seemed to dilate, and he towered above his surroundings. As 
he warmed to his subject he spoke with a grace of diction and a fervor 
of conviction that produced the magnetic effect of one inspired. His 



16 WILLIAM Mckinley. 

addresses upon every conceivable topic were models of arrangement 
and style. He had a unique faculty, amounting to a genius, for con- 
cise, luminous, and epigrammatic statement. His pithy sayings were 
used as texts by other campaign orators. For symmetry, lucidity, 
and purity his speeches were masterpieces of forensic eloquence, and 
their number was legion. For 25 years he was in the greatest demand 
as a speaker in all parts of the country, and campaign committees 
and States vied with each other in their rivalry to secure his pres- 
ence. For a quarter of a century his life had been one long campaign. 
He made the most phenomenal stumping tours in history. He some- 
times made 20 speeches in a day. While campaigning he has been 
known to average 15 speeches a day for a period of two months, and 
to return from his tour in as good physical condition as when he 
started. It is estimated that during his public life he had personally 
addressed 10,000,000 people. His nature was sweet, kindly, and 
affectionate. His love of little children was touching, and his con- 
stant and tender devotion to an invalid wife was an idyl of ^^entiment. 
He attended her through her years of delicate health with the cour- 
tesy of a knight-errant and the solicitude of a lover, and their whole 
married life was a tj'pe of the holiness of a perfect union. His voice 
was well modulated and musical and of that clarion clearness and 
vibrant resonance which enables the perfect orator to make himself 
audible to the largest assemblies and to play upon the emotions of his 
hearers as upon an instrument. Henry Clay, John B. Gough, and 
Henry Ward Beecher, among men of recent times, have produced 
similar effects. His intellectual vision embraced a continent, and his 
utterances comprehended and clarified every important question that 
has agitated the public mind for a generation. 

THE LAST SCENE. 

Thursday, September 5, 1901, had been designated as President's 
Day at the great Pan American Exposition at Buffalo. The Presi- 
dent was gi-eeted with the acclamations of countless throngs, the joy- 
ous ringing of bells, the booming of cannon, the music of patriotic 
airs, and every manifestation of popular joy and pride. Here he 
delivered an oration which for its weight, its lofty tone, and its far- 
sighted statesmanship will I'ank with Washington's Farewell Address 
to his countr3'men. The next day a mag-nificent popular reception 
was tendered him. The President stood in the beautiful Temple of 
Music and a throng of people formed in line to pass him and shake his 
hand. The procession had proceeded some time when a little girl 
greeted the President. She passed on and Mr. McKinley turned and 
smilingly waved his hand to her. Next came a short Italian and 
immediately behind him a young man wiih a cloth wrapped around 
his apparently injured right hand. The Italian passed, and the 
young man who followed put forth his left hand in the act of greeting 
and at the same time fired two shots from a revolver which he had 
concealed within the cloth which covered his right hand. One of 
these proved f;it;il to llic President. Never av as such a fiendish act 
comnntted sini-e Jndas betrayed his Master witli a kiss. The assassin 
was immediately set upon by the secret-service men and the crowd. 
The President, gasping with a mortal wound, with a compassion 



WILLIAM Mckinley. 17 

almost divine, said : " Do not let tlieni hurt him ! " As he lost con- 
sciousness just before the surgical operation he murmured, "' Thy 
kingdom come. Thy Avill be done," and as his noble spirit took its 
et-ernal flight he ^vhispered, " Nearer, my God, to Thee: Thy will, not 
mine, be done." 

HIS GREATNESS. 

Such, in brief outline, was his career. The verdict Avhich the histor- 
ian will pronounce has been anticipated by his contemporaries. He 
was a wonderful and a great man. He would have been great in any 
station. True greatness is not to be measured by the arena in Avhich its 
activities are disiDhiyed. Greatness in exalted place has wider recog- 
nition and achieves more enduring fame because of the magnitude 
of the issues with which it deals and its greater effect upon human 
events: but inherently, real greatness is not reputation, nor ability, 
nor rank, nor fame, nor poAver. It is ch aracter. What boots it to 
humanity that some Croesus has transteffe^ToT his own account so 
much of gold and silver and land? Of what avail are the victories 
of the legions of the war lord over a weaker foe ? Will human suf- 
fering be comforted by the perusal of the conquests of Alexander or 
the accumulations of the syndicates? Will posterity be happier from 
the knowledge that one man was an emperor and another a million- 
aire? These things are the gilt and tinsel of greatness, the baubles 
and fripperies of tawdry counterfeits. But the lives and the charac- 
ters of Washington, of Lincoln, of Grant, of Jefferson, of McKinley, 
and of Roosevelt will .shine through the ages with a radiance that 
will allay the pangs of millions of human liearts and inspire noble 
deeds and Christian lives in generations yet unborn. Here is the true 
greatness of men and of governments. If the youth of our country 
shall realize this and emulate these grand examples, then, indeed, will 
our beloved country be blessed of all nations. When we consider the 
life, character, and the work of William McKinley : his services to 
his country as orator, soldier, and statesman ; when we are permitted 
to withdraw the veil of his private and domestic life and to look upon 
his unfailing courtesy to his neighbors, his unflinching attachment to 
his friends, and his Idndly devotion to his family; when we realize 
the beauty and purity and the mingled sweetness and strength of the 
life of this great man of the people, we are convinced that his is " one 
of the few, the immortal names, that are not born to die." To him 
may be justly applied the words of England's greatest bard : " His 
life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might 
stand up and say to all the world, ' This was a man.' " 

o 

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